'Fast Money' Recap: Gold Jitters

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- The markets fell Wednesday after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke pulled back on another round of quantitative easing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.05, or 0.41%, to 12,952.07. The S&P 500 lost 6.50, or 0.47%, to 1365.68. The Nasdaq retreated 19.87, or 0.67% to 2966.89.

Joe Terranova said on CNBC's "Fast Money" TV show that he was alarmed at the 5% drop in gold. He said that while it may have been due to Bernanke's comments on quantitative easing, people were getting out of their long positions and shorting gold and silver.

Ron Insana thought the market may have overreacted to Bernanke's comments. He said Bernanke did say the Fed would provide an accommodating monetary policy to get the unemployment rate down to its target level.

Dennis Gartman said he did not know what was going on, but he wound up selling some gold today. He said the drop in gold may be due to the signal from the Fed and ECB that quantitative easing moves may be shelved for awhile. He said that's a problem for gold, which needs easier monetary policies.

Dough Kass, a RealMoney Silver contributor at RealMoney.com, said the risk-on trade is coming to a close, adding the easy money might have ended today. He said investors need to ask themselves three questions. First, what role has liquidity played in the market rally and what would be the impact if some of that were taken away?

Second, what role would a zero interest-rate policy play on domestic economic growth and how that growth can be sustained without interest rates at zero? And third, has a zero interest-rate policy begun to lose its impact?

He said he would take in profit in long positions, build up cash and be short in selected issues and industries. He said he shorted American Express ( AXP) and would short China through the iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund ( FXI).

He also said he would short Regal Cinemas ( RGC) and Henry Schein ( HSIC).

He would also short companies leveraged to capital markets like Goldman Sachs ( GS) and Morgan Stanley ( MS).

Terranova said he didn't believe a deep correction is forthcoming. He said the financials traded well today and that VIX didn't spike.

Will Windows 8 be a game changer? David Pogue, the technology columnist for the New York Times who tested the beta version of Windows 8, praised Microsoft ( MSFT) for coming up with something that is "fast and pleasurable."

He noted the post PC-era look of Windows 8, in which start menu has been replaced with a start screen. Instead of icons, there are tiles providing information on the apps without opening them.

He said one drawback was the desktop hiding underneath the surface. He said it isn't as much fun as the touch screen experience.

He said Windows 8 will give Microsoft a fighting chance in the tablet and smartphone markets.

Lee shifted the discussion to Staples ( SPLS), a stock that Finerman found attractive despite the fact that it was a loser today.

Finerman cited a number of reasons why she liked it. She said the company is well positioned to take advantage of a recovery in U.S. employment and small business and a recovery in Europe. She also said the company would benefit from any consolidation in its space, adding its free cash flow generation was huge and that it had the advantage of scale over its next two rivals.

Lee and the trading panel marveled at Apple's ( AAPL) ascent, as it was up again today and reached a market cap of $507 billion. She wondered whether the stock was a bargain at this level. Insana said that while the company is fundamentally strong, the stock's parabolic rise warranted some caution.

Najarian said Apple remains attractive because of its cheap P/E, rising margins and opportunities in China where it has distribution agreements with two big telecom players. "There's a lot more upside," he said.

For the "Next Big Thing" segment, Lee brought in Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile ( GLUU) to talk about the console games his company produces for Google ( GOOG) and Apple ( AAPL) platforms.

He said his company is well positioned to take advantage of a big shift in the use of smartphones for entertainment and that gaming is in the center of that trend.

In the final trades, Terranova liked NXP Semiconductors ( NXPI). Insana said that if Apple had become too big of a position in a portfolo, he would pare back but buy some shares if there were a dip. Finerman liked Staples while Najarian favored Intel ( INTC).

President Trump's move Thursday to cancel his meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un sent the stock market into a "tizzy," according to TheStreet's founder and Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio Manager Jim Cramer.